Existing inventory storage and dispensing systems are complex and inflexible. Pick-n-place robotic solutions involve complex articulated components and can require multiple steps for dispensing. Belt or carousel driven dispensers discharge items in a single-point linear fashion, often requiring significant delay for distantly spaced selections. In warehouses, flow rack and pallet rack systems exhibit such shortcomings. Similarly, storage delays are common when adding inventory. They can require involved, labor-intensive, inventory sequencing to properly allocate items to pre-defined sections. A-frame configurations waste space and can only be filled with one type of item. Other dispensing devices are also limited to dispensing items of the same size and shape, unable to store and dispense varied, irregular, or soft articles. The design of automated systems often precludes scaling, limiting the application to storage of either large or small items.
Medication storage and dispensing has particularly stringent requirements. It is vital that medications and prescriptions be accurately and securely stored. This applies in both institutional and home settings. Medication dispensers can require manual programming and complex inventory control steps. They can also be inflexible, requiring serial input and dispensing in a first-in first-out sequence.
Overall, traditional manual inventory stocking of bins and shelves introduces delays in the stocking and dispensing sequence. Manual selection of inventory from bins on shelves is labor-intensive, slow, and prone to security breaches. Inventory is vulnerable to damage, and access to some storage locations can be very cumbersome.
What is needed, therefore, is a scalable apparatus and method for secure storage with easy placement and rapid, efficient, dispensing of a variety of items.